Asana (software)

Asana (/əˈsɑːnə/ or /ˈɑːsənə/) is a web and mobile work management platform designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. It is produced by the San Francisco based company of the same name (Asana, Inc.).

Asana, Inc.
TypePublic
NYSE: ASAN
Industry
Founded2008 (2008)
Founder
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
US
Key people
Dustin Moskovitz (CEO)
Revenue $227 million (2021)[1]
Number of employees
1080 (2021)[1]
Websiteasana.com

The company was founded in 2008 by Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein. The product launched commercially in April 2012.[2] In September 2020, the company was valued at $5.5 billion following its direct listing.[3]

History

The co-founders met at Facebook, where Moskovitz, Facebook's co-founder and vice president of engineering, and his colleague Rosenstein created a productivity tool called Tasks. In 2008, Moskovitz and Rosenstein left Facebook to start Asana.[4] Asana officially launched for free out of beta in November 2011[5] and commercially in April 2012.[6]

In 2016, Asana raised $50 million in Series C financing led by Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator.[7]

By January 2018, more than 35,000 paying customers were using Asana, including CityFibre,[8] AB-InBev, Viessmann, eBay, Uber, Overstock, Navy Federal Credit Union, Icelandair, and IBM. That same year, the company raised $75 million in Series D funding led by Generation Investment Management, a firm backed by Al Gore.[9] In November 2018, Asana raised another $50 million in funding in Series E to invest in international and product expansion.[10]

In September 2020, Asana went public on the New York Stock Exchange via a direct public offering.[11] In August 2021, Asana dual listed on the Long-Term Stock Exchange.[12]

By December 2021, Asana's customer count increased to 114,000 with two million paid seats globally and 739 of these were spending $50,000 or more on an annualized basis.[13]

In March 2022, Asana reported that it ended the year with 119,000 paying customers, with those that pay $5,000 or more on its software each year rising to 15,437 at the end of the fourth quarter, up 52% from a year ago.[14]

Product

Asana is a software-as-a-service platform designed to improve team collaboration and work management. It helps teams manage projects and tasks in one tool. Teams can create projects, assign work to teammates, specify deadlines, and communicate about tasks directly in Asana. It also includes reporting tools, file attachments, calendars, as well as setting and tracking company wide goals.

In May 2013, Asana launched Organizations, a way for companies of all sizes to use Asana, reporting tools to help teams monitor project progress, and IT admin tools.[15]

In 2014, Asana launched its native iOS app[16] and in January 2015, Asana released its native Android app.[17] In September 2015, the company redesigned its application and brand adding a conversations feature.[18]

In September 2016, the company launched custom fields, "an interface and architecture that will let you tailor Asana's information management to cover a variety of structured data points".[19] A few months later, Asana launched Boards so teams could organize and visualize their projects in columns. The Verge reported that, "By integrating lists and boards into a single product, Asana may have just vaulted ahead of its rivals."[20] The company also released pre-made project templates.

In March 2017, Asana announced its integration with Microsoft Teams.[21] In fall 2017, start dates, a new integration with Gmail, and comment-only projects were released. Also in November, Asana launched its app in French and German.[22]

In March 2018, Asana announced a new interactive feature called Timeline, which businesses can use to visualize and map out their projects.[23] Later that year, Asana launched its Business tier for enterprises using Asana for multiple projects.[24]

In 2019, Asana launched Asana for Marketing and Creative Teams[25] Workload[26] and Automation.[27] Workload allows teams to see what colleagues are working on and redistribute work,[26] while Automation enables individuals, teams and organizations to achieve greater efficiency with a custom Rules builder.[27]

In February 2020, Asana launched Asana for Sales and Operations, including integrations with Atlassian's software development project tracking tool, Jira Cloud, data visualization app, Tableau, Microsoft's PowerBI and Salesforce's customer relationship management platform.[28]

In response to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Asana released its Do Not Disturb feature, targeted at workers who were more likely to work from home as a result of the sudden shift to remote work.[29]

In June 2020, Asana expanded its integration with Microsoft Teams, giving teams the ability to turn chats into action items in Asana.[30] As teams continued to navigate the pandemic, Asana launched Asana Goals, a feature to help organizations set, track and manage team and company-wide goals,[31] partnered with Vimeo to offer video messaging[32] and added a Smart Calendar Assistant integration with Clockwise.[33] In July 2021, Asana launched an app for Zoom. The Asana app can be opened within the videoconferencing software Zoom.[34]

In October 2021, Asana announced its new Enterprise Work Graph suite[35] with new IT capabilities for large enterprises and integrations with Splunk and Netskope.[36]

In February 2021, Asana launched Asana Flow. This includes Workflow Builder, Template Library, an expanded developer toolkit with App Components, a re-designed Asana Home interface and new integrations that connect to workflows, including Jotform and Miro.[37]

API and integrations

In April 2012, Asana released its API to third-party developers. Asana's open API provides a means to programmatically read and input information, and create automations within Asana. Common use cases include automating repetitive tasks, chaining processes, automating reporting on tasks and projects, and syncing with databases or other tools.[38]

The Asana API is a RESTful interface, allowing users to update and access much of their data on the platform.[38]

In April 2021, Asana launched Asana Partners, which allows for cross platform integration with its project management software. Asana has integrations with more than 200 SaaS tools, including Gmail, Slack, Microsoft Outlook, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, Zapier, IFTTT, Wufoo, JotForm, Okta, OneLogin, Harvest, Instagantt, Zendesk,[39] Zoom[40] and Qatalog.[41]

Reception

Asana twice received a 4.5 out of 5 from PC Magazine. In 2017 it was an Editors' Choice and was called "one of the best collaboration and productivity apps for teams" and went on to note its "thoughtful design, fluid interactive elements, and generous member allotment."[42] In 2020, it received a Best of the Year award, remarking that it "is one of the best apps for managing tasks, workflows, and—yes—certain kinds of projects" despite not being a full-scale project management platform.[43] Asana was also named as one of the Best Workplaces for Parents in the US by Great Place to Work in 2020 and 2021.[44][45]

In 2021, Inc. named Asana to its annual Best Workplace list and one of the Best Led companies.[46][47] Fast Company named Asana #15 most innovative companies and added the company to its Brands That Matter list[48].[49]

See also

References
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  2. Guynn, Jessica (April 24, 2012). "Asana, software start-up from Facebook vets, launches paid version". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  3. "Asana valued at $5.5 billion after direct listing debut". Fortune. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
  4. Bercovici, Jeff (May 23, 2018). "How Asana's Founders Built a $900 Million Business on Buddhist Principles". Inc.com. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
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  7. "Asana Links Up With $50M Series C for Collaboration Tools". Wall Street Journal. March 31, 2016. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
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  29. Brooks, Steve (March 26, 2020). "Asana launches Do not Disturb for home workers". Enterprise Times. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
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